VICTORIA'S SECRET COMPETITORS US

Although previously Vitoria's Secret were the leading lingerie brand for the US, particularly between the ages of 16-25, the lingerie game is quickly evolving to becoming more inclusive of every body type, skin tone and shape. Victoria's Secret is falling behind with keeping up-to-date with the diversity of fashion nowadays, as society becomes more open towards steering away from the 'norm' of fashion models. Although the brand is famous for their huge catwalk extravaganza held annually, where models walk alongside some of the biggest singers whilst wearing the signature angel wings, the viewer total of the show has rapidly deteriorated over the past 8 years. From my research, I discovered that 70% of the people who answered my survey watched the fashion show, and 85% believe that the brand should be more inclusive to plus-size and transgender models, in which Victoria's Secret as a brand, do not support or want participating in their show. On the other hand, brands such as Chromat and Rihanna's recently launched lingerie brand Savage X Fenty, have been highlighted as being much more diverse and inclusive, therefore are stealing a lot of limelight away from this years Victoria's Secret show. Rihanna's Savage X Fenty catwalk was more of a dance performance, with an eden garden inspired surrounding, where the models would dance in the lingerie around the trees and waterfalls. This experience engaged with the audience, media and people watching online, mostly due to the models they used in the performance which caught everyone's eye. The models were far from the typical size 0, perfect skin and hair which you would see on the VS runway, the majority of the women were plus sizes, some were transgender and even pregnant. The use of these models made people of the internet shake, because it showed that society were becoming more open to people away from the 'norm', modelling lingerie. After the controversy  with the CEO of marketing from Victoria's Secret shaming plus-size and transgender models from taking part in their show due to not being a 'fantasy', people were over the moon to see a huge brand being released that were inclusive to women of every body type and skin tone. As well as Savage X Fenty, another lingerie brand, Chromat has also been all over the internet for their use of diversity, as they use a large number of transgender models, as well as models with disabilities even which is much more empowering towards women, than how empowering Victoria's Secret claim to be. After a poll I posted on Instagram, where the majority of my followers are girls between the ages of 16-21, 132 people voted on whether Victoria's Secret empowers them as a woman, where 25% said yes, the girls were of very small sizes therefore probably feel empowered as the models have bodies like them. Although the other 75% voted no, whereas only 23% the voters found that Savage X Fenty didn't empower women. In my opinion, in order for Victoria's Secret to revive their brand, they need to become a much more inclusive brand and use diverse models in their marketing and runways, otherwise more and more people will loose interest in buying from them. The internet is the most powerful tool nowadays, so if every online magazine, tweet and instagram post is shaming Victoria's Secret for their lack of inclusivity, the brand will quickly die.